Asus launched Asus Zenfone Max M1 Budget smartphone in India to take on Realme 2 and Xiaomi Redmi 6. Is it worth the price lets find out in our review

Asus Zenfone Max M1 comes in Black and Gold colors we have Gold color. Box content includes Phone, user guide, 5V 2A Charger, Micro USB Cable and SIM tool. On Design Zenfone Max M1 looks similar to Zenfone Max Pro M1. Zenfone Max M1 is made up of plastic with a metallic finish. On the front, it has a 5.45-inch Display, front facing camera earpiece, sensors, Notification led and on-screen buttons. On the right, there is Volume and Power button, SIM card slot on left. 3.5mm audio jack on the top. On the bottom, there is Micro USB port and Speaker.

On the Rear, it comes with 13MP Camera with LED Flash, Fingerprint Scanner and Asus branding. Rear has curved edges which give grip in hand. Overall Build quality is good. Zenfone Max M1 is a compact smartphone which can be easily used in Single hand. On Display, It comes with a 5.45-inch (1440 ×720 pixels) HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display there is support for auto brightness sensor which works well. It produces good colors and Viewing Angle

Asus Zenfone Max M1 is powered by 1.4GHz Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Processor with Adreno 505 GPU. It comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal Storage out of which around 24GB is available for the user there is also support for Dedicated MicroSD card slot, Snapdragon 430 is now 2-year-old chipset. In daily use like Social media Apps, Calls, listen to music, watching Video There is no issue or lag while playing games like PUBG or Asphalt 8 there is lag, PUBG at lower settings works smoothly while playing games for longer time the phone gets heat up if you play games than this is not a good phone for you. Asus should have gone with Helio P22 or Snapdragon 450 at a higher price. Overall performance is decent.

On Camera Zenfone Max M1 has a 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture and 8MP front-facing camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture. Both front & Rear Camera can record 1080P Videos and also has support for portrait mode. Daylight and Indoor images are low light photos are average, Video recording is decent, the Front camera produces good selfies, portrait mode also works fine, there is also LED Flash for low light Selfies. portrait mode does not work with Rear Camera. Camera App includes HDR, panorama, Time Lapse, Beauty Mode.

Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS. It does not support Dual 4G VoLTE. It comes with Fingerprint Scanner on the Rear which works fast. Zenfone Max M1 also has support for Face Unlock which works under good light does not work in Low light. Audio via Speaker and 3.5mm audio jacks is loud and Clear, Call Quality also Good. Zenfone Max M1 is packed with a 4000mAh Battery which comes with 2A charger and takes more than 3 Hours to charge fully which is able to deliver one day of battery life on heavy use with 7-8 Hours of Screen on Time.

Just like other Realme phones Realme 2 Pro also comes with a Plastic build which has multiple layers of lamination which looks like Glass. On the front, it has a 6.3-inch full-HD+ display, 16MP front-facing camera earpiece in a dewdrop notch. It does not come with Notification LED. It comes with slim bezels On the right there is a Power button on the left it comes with SIM Slot and Volume buttons. On the top there is Microphone on the bottom there is MicroUSB port, Speaker grill, and 3.5mm audio Jack.

On the Rear, it has a Dual Rear Camera, Fingerprint Scanner and Realme branding. The rear panel is made up of plastic looks like Glass It gets fingerprint smudges and sketches easily Its better to the case provided in the box. The phone measures 156.7 x 74 x 8.5mm and weight 174g. The Phones is not heavy but can't be used in single hand. Overall build Quality of phone is decent.

Realme 2 Pro comes with a 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ IPS display which comes with 19.5:9 aspect ratio It is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The display is brighter compared to other phones produces good colors and Viewing angles. Auto brightness sensor does not work well in all conditions sometimes in bright sunlight or in Low you need to adjust it manually Display quality is good.

Realme 2 Pro is powered by 1.9Ghz Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm processor which is an underclocked processor. It comes with Adreno 512 GPU. Performance is fast and smooth there was no lag, Games like PUBG, Asphalt 8 works fine without Much lag yes phone gets warm after Playing games for a long time. It comes with 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, 8GB RAM with 128GB Ufs 2.1 Storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD. Underclocked Snapdragon 660 does not affect daily life performance you won't notice much difference, RAM management on Realme 2 Pro has been improved.

Realme 2 Pro comes with a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, secondary 2MP camera, 4K Video recording and 16MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture. Realme 2 Pro has a Secondary camera for portrait shorts. Camera Mode includes Photo, Video, Timelapse. Sticker, Pano, Manual, portrait mode which has few other modes like natural light, film light, monotone light, rim light, bi-color light. It produces good images in both daylight and Low light. front camera Camera selfies look more overexposure It needs an update to fix it. Portrait mode needs updates both front and Rear Camera. Video recording is good it comes with EIS Support It lacks Slow-motion Video. There is also an Expert Mode. Overall camera performance is good Realme Should Fix depth mode, front camera issue.

Realme 2 Pro runs on ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo It comes with some customizations. There are options of Swipe Up gesture navigations, Gesture & Motion, Cloe Apps, Game Space, and More There is no App drawer, You Can't clear all notifications at the same time you have to Swipe right and Delete. ColorOS is not fast as MIUI or EMUI. Realme 2 Pro will be getting Android Pie Update, the User interface is not So fast Realme Should come with New User interface or Go with stock Android in their Next Phone. Realme 2 Pro comes with face unlock and fingerprint Scanner both can be used unlock, App Lock, File Safe. Face Unlock works under in both daylight and Low light conditions its fast, Fingerprint Scanner is also fast you can add up to 5 fingerprints.

Realme 2 Pro has support for Dual 4G VoLTE, Jio 4G works fine It also comes with Video call, Calls Recording Options Voice Call quality is clear there was no issue network connectivity with Jio and Vodafone was fast there is no Issue with Download or Upload Speed. Audio Quality from 3.5mm audio is jack loud and clear. Audio quality from 3.5mm audio jack is average not that great. Realme 2 Pro is packed with a 3500mAh Battery which does not support fast charging and takes more than 2 Hours to charge device fully. It can delivery Single Day of battery life with Normal use if you are heavy user play games, Dual 4G it Can last for around 12-15 Hours. In our test, we got 7 Hours of Screen with Gaming, Video, Camera test. Realme 2 Pro has a battery drain issue which will be fixed with a Software update.
Also Read: Realme 2 Pro Charging & Battery Drain Test

Honor 8X is the latest smartphone from Honor in India. It comes with notch Display, Dual Rear Camera. Here are Reasons to Buy & Not to Buy Honor 8X.

Design & Display

Honor 8X comes with Glass body Design with Dual Design which looks unique in this price range, On the front, It has a 6.5-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ display with 19:5:9 aspect ratio It comes with 91% of Screen to Body ratio It produces good colors and Viewing angles in indoor condition outdoor visibility is average in bright sunlight. Honor 8X Can not be used in Single Hand.

Processor

Honor 8X is Powered by Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm (4 x 2.2GHz Cortex-A73 +4 x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. It also has support for GPU Turbo. Comes with 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 6GB RAM with 64GB / 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 400GB with microSD. With normal use the performance is smooth there is no lag or heating issue while playing games the glass body heat up while playing games at higher settings there is lag and frame drops. Overall performance is good, GPU. is weaker.

Camera

On Camera, it has a 20MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.8 aperture, 2MP secondary camera and 16MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture. a slow-motion 480fps. portrait mode, It can record Videos up 1080P 60 fps there is no support for 4K Video recording. It produces good images in daylight, There is also AI mode the low light camera is decent There is also night mode available. the front camera is good portrait mode needs an update. Honor 8X does not come with EIS Video recording is average from both front & Rear Camera's

With AI

Night Mode

Night Mode

Battery Life

Honor 8X is backed by a 3750mAh battery which is able to deliver One day of battery life with 7-8 Hours Screen on Time. You can also set Display at HD+, FHD+ or Smart resolution which adjusts according to your usage.

Dedicated MicroSD

Honor 8X comes with Dedicated MicroSD card support up to 256GB. There is also Support for Dual 4G VoLTE.

Not Buy

No fast Charge Honor 8X does not support fast charging and comes with 5V 2A charger which takes more than 2 Hour 30Min to charge fully.

No USB Type CHonor 8X Still uses Micro USB Port does not come with Type C

No Gorilla Glass

Both front & Rear on Honor 8X comes with Glass Body which comes with aluminosilicate glass for screen protection There is No Gorilla glass protection.

No 4K video recording

Nowadays most of the budget phones have support for 4K video recording. Honor 8X smartphone focused so much on Camera does not support 4K Video recording also lacks EIS which is available in this price point. The front camera can record 720P Videos.

Xiaomi Sub-brand Pocophone (Poco) launched Poco F1 smartphone in India which comes with Snapdragon 845 Processor and 4000mAh Battery which takes on Honor Play and Zenfone 5Z. Is it worth the price tag here's our review

The box content includes Handset, Adapter, USB Cable, Warranty Card, User Guide, SIM Tool, Back Case. We have a base variant of Poco F1 which comes with a polycarbonate back. The side is also made up of plastic. It comes with a 6.18-inch Full HD+ notch display, with 18:7:9 aspect ratio which is protected by gorilla glass 3, front facing camera, led flash, IR Face unlock sensor, earpiece which acts as stereo speaker below the display on chin there is Notification LED. There are also on Screen buttons.

On the right side, there is volume keys and the power button. The left side It has a hybrid SIM tray that allows for dual SIM cards or a single SIM and microSD card. USB Type C port and speaker grill on bottom On top the a is a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the Rear, there is Dual Rear Camera Setup Dual LED Flash, fingerprint scanner and Poco logo below. Build Quality of phone is decent not that Great that plastic body looks Cheap. TPU Case provided in the box is useless which does not even fit properly.

Poco F1 has a 6.18-inch (2246 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18.7:9 Notch display which is protected by Gorilla Glass. You can also Hide the Notch, The Notch is bigger every time you get notifications you have to swipe down to check notifications, Also No battery percentage in Status Bar. The display produces good colors and Viewing angles. In bright Sunlight, auto brightness Sensor works fine this Display Quality is decent not the best when compared to other flagship devices. We didn't notice any Screen bleeding issue with our unit. POCO F1 is powered by a Snapdragon 845 processor with 6/8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB/256GB UFS2.1 internal storage. It has support for Hybrid SIM Slot. Poco F1 comes with Liquid cooling. Performance is of Poco F1 is fast and smooth we played PUBG for more than 1 hour at high setting we notice some heating issue but when switched to normal settings there was no heating issue. In normal use like using social media Apps, Listening music there no heating issue or lag.

Poco F1 comes with a 12MP rear camera with dual LED Flash, f/1.9 aperture, 1.4μm pixel size, Sony IMX363 sensor, Dual Pixel autofocus, a secondary 5MP camera with Samsung sensor and 20MP front-facing camera with ƒ/2.0 aperture. Rear Camera can record videos up to 4K there is also support for AI Mode. There is also Support for Slow motion. Camera performance in daylight is Good, the Low light camera is decent not that great front camera produces good selfies both daylight and Low light.

Poco F1 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 9.6 based on Poco launcher which will be getting Android 9.0 Pie Update by end of 2018. It comes with IR face unlock which works under low light also. Fingerprint Scanner is also fast and responsive. Poco launcher brings App drawer, App suggestions display most of the used apps, groups apps automatically, group icon by color u can find apps by choosing the color. Communication, entertainment, shopping, tools, news, finance, games MIUI features Like Dual Apps, Second Space, App lock also present. Preinstalled Apps include Microsoft Apps, Xiaomi Security, Cleaner, UC Browser, Community, Mi Store, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and PhonePe you can uninstall most of the Apps. We haven't noticed any Ads in Settings or other Apps in Poco smartphone.

Connectivity options on Poco F1 include Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C. It has a Speaker on the bottom even earpiece acts as a Speaker, the Audio output from the speaker is loud and clear audio out from earpiece is not that loud. Audio Output is clear the device has support for Dual VoLTE, Idea, Jio, Airtel VoLTE worked fine without any issue. Poco F1 is packed by a 4000mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 which takes close to 2 Hours to charge fully which is able to deliver 1 and a half day of battery life with Dual SIM, Gaming, Phone Calls on Data.Reasons To Buy And Not To Buy Poco F1